Work and Human Behavior - Softcover

Neff, Walter S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0202309096 ISBN 13: 9780202309095

Publisher: Routledge, 2006

Synopsis

Work is a many-sided human enterprise that has been written about from a great many different points of view, representing almost every field of knowledge and almost every level of our social structure. Merely to identify these points of view is an impressive task. The subject of work has been written about by theologians and philosophers, by poets and novelists, by historians, economists, and sociologists, by biologists and naturalists, by politicians, by essayists and journalists. It has been described as both a blessing and a curse, as the chief means through which man has developed a high culture, and as a ravager of our natural environment. Following the preface, and an introductory chapter on the scope of the problem of work the title is divided up into four main sections, which include: The Nature of Work, Clinical Issues, Work and Mental Health, and Some Contemporary Problems Since the first two editions, new issues have arisen that are currently leading to a certain amount of public uproar. The first issue concerns the sources of worker productivity prompted by the current decline of preeminence of United States industry both in the world market and in certain aspects of our internal market. The second issue involves the complex relations between work and mental health, with work being viewed, on one hand, as a factor in the generation of insecurity and mental illness and, from another, as a factor in the treatment of the severe mental disorders. While much of the current published material on these two issues is characterized more by heat than by enlightenment, the third edition includes new chapters in these widely debated areas.

About this title

About the Author:

Walter S. Neff (1910-1997) was Professor Emeritus, New York University and professor of Psychiatry (Psychology) at the School of Medicine, SUNY/Stony Brook. He was one of the pioneers in the developing and controversial field of psychiatric rehabilitation and his chief research focus has been in psychological problems of work and in use as a therapeutic medium for the emotionally disturbed. He was a fellow of the American Psychological Association and Past-President of the Division on the Psychological Aspects of Disability of the APA.

Review:

“The reviewer has been responsible for ‘teaching’ the vocational aspects of counseling for several years. This book will serve as an outstanding text in preparing educational and rehabilitative counselors. Viewing the messages in this book from the position of a practitioner, I would feel that every practitioner could learn from it. Lastly, this book will familiarize those who are not counselors with the current status of what is known about why people work and will offer constructive ideas regarding how to approach those who ‘will not work.’ As a final testimony to the excellence of this book, I will be ordering it for my class as soon as I complete this sentence.”

—Philip A. Perrone, the Journal of Human Resources

“Sociologists specializing in work behavior will find this book well written.”

—C. E. Tygart, American Sociological Review

“It is becoming increasingly apparent that a significant proportion of the U.S. population fails to make a successful, long-term adaptation to employment. Aside from the structural barriers affecting vocational opportunities for a portion of this population, there are significant numbers of individuals whose vocational deficiencies are attributable to physical and mental incapacities. Neff has pent a major portion of his professional life attempting to understand the impact of disability on individual behavior and developing appropriate methods whereby disabled individuals might acquire the behavioral competencies to sustain themselves in employment. This book, therefore, summarizes the view of one who has played a significant role in the development of vocational rehabilitation. . . . This book . . . represents a singular effort to define and place in perspective issues concerning adjustment of individuals to the demands of work.”

—William H. Button, Industrial and Labor Relations Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0202309096
• ISBN 13: 9780202309095
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 362